[FONT=Comic Sans MS] In all, that was a good challenge. My new top three is Hung, Dale, and Casey, back again after re-taking Brian's spot. Unless they do a ceviche challenge, Mr. Malarkey will be out the next episode which looks like they'll be focusing on French cuisine at the FCI. So far, from what I've seen, Brian has shown no knowledge or background of French cuisine so I can really see him struggling with this challenge.

I think Casey is likely to have trouble with the FCI challenge, as well. Unless she just showed poor judgment in using that serrated knife to chop onions. But come ON! NO chef would ever use a serrated knife to chop anything unless they were on a desert island with only that for a utensil. Who goes home may well depend upon whose knife skills are the worst. But you're right, Brian does not have formal training, so I wonder if he ever learned good ones...

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Assuming I didn't win the quickfire, I probably would've chosen salmon or the next fattiest fish after Hung scooped up the Chilean Sea bass. Without knowing what else Continental had in their kitchen (but it looked like they were pretty well stocked), I probably would've done a miso-sesame glazed salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes and braised bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, and carrots. The salmon would've marinated for an hour, then seared off on high heat for just one minute on each side to get a crust, then placed in the fridge, and packed with some of the reserved marinade as the sauce. At 10 minutes, covered, and cooked at 350 F from a relatively cold temp, it should come out at about medium. Mashed potatoes re-heat well and the vegetables would've been quickly blanced (except for the mushrooms) and placed in a liquid of chicken stock, soy sauce, ginger, and rice wine vinegar. Everything would take no more than the minimum of 10 minutes in the airline's oven would've hopefully come out great.

Your choice of what you would've done is very similar to what I thought while watching that show. I wouldn't have done Chilean Sea Bass in the first place because of the sustainability issue, but salmon was the first thing I said! The beef dishes could have been done better, tho, I thought.

Last nights episode was about Hung,the good and the bad, I thought. He did a great job with the quickfire challenge and Casey stayed right behind him in both challenges. She surprised me in a way by being able to recreate the sea bass as well as she did. If Top Chef has anything to do with an ability to deal with others in the kitchen as well as cooking, then maybe she will win. I hope so. Right now I don't see Brian or Dale winning.

In Seasons 1 and 2, the relationship of the sous chefs to the finalists played huge roles in the ultimate success of the victor. I think if it comes down to Casey and Hung in the finals, Hung is going to regret his "I don't care what anyone thinks about me" proclamations and wish he had been a little more of a team player (although I definitely thought it was odd that anyone would've expected him to share his method for recreating the seabass.)

Finally saw this episode tonight. Tivo'd it but didn't have time to watch it. Wow. Those were some pretty hard challenges man. Just looking at Brian's dish, I really didn't think he would advance. Man that dish looked like ****. I mean I think my daughter could've plated that better than he did. But, it tasted good which is the most important thing.

From talking to people and reading the blogs on Bravo, Hung is the professional cooks choice to win. The reason is that he is the only one on that show (Tre included), who you know will kick your *** in most of the technical aspects in a professional kitchen. He's the only one that you know will blow you away because he's so fast and his knife skills are so good. He's the only one that will do stuff that you wouldn't dare try given that same situation. He's the only one that you would actually fear going up against in a cook off. He's the only one that makes you say, "Holy ****!" when you're watching the show.